<p>For prospective applicants to the Freshman class, many colleges emphatically promote the availability of cross-registration. One of best known prgrams is the 5-College Consortium that includes Mt Holyoke and U of Massachusetts-Amherst et al. The other Massachusetts association, the Worcester Consortium, and the Durham NC area agreement, look great on paper. However, a careful read of the individual member colleges’ catalogues reveals that it’s harder than advertised to get approved for a class at a fellow consortium member institution. Some schools retrict the number of classes taken per term while others limit the opportunity to the junior year. I know a U of North Carolina-CH applicant who is looking forward to taking several courses at Duke. Is she headed for a big dissapointment?</p>
<p>i don’t know about the program at duke, but I go to smith and have taken classes at Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke, and Amherst (I’ve had more than a semester “away” when you add it all up). It’s always not easy to schedule classes off campus, especially those that meet every day or for long periods of time–never did get to take whitewater kayaking at hampshire for that reason–and people’s feelings about taking 5 college classes definitely depends on their tolerance for taking the bus/ sitting in traffic. I’m very patient about those things and it’s worked out fine.</p>